Alberta’s Bill 18, or the Provincial Priorities Act has now hit wider notice, with a new report on it being presented in University Affairs.  Coming into effect in early 2025, the Act requires that researchers with public institutions, like universities, must get the province’s approval before they can accept federal funding for anything.

And why would the province want to stop Alberta researchers from receiving federal research dollars?  Why would the Province of Albeta refuse funding to our post-secondary institutions? Because Danielle Smith and the UCP fear there is ideological bias in research supported by federal funds. Of course, by ideological bias, what she really means is any research that might paint the oil industry in a bad light.  Which essentially means that any research on the environmental effects of the oilsands, or on things like CO2 emissions, you know, things that we Albertans actually have a keen interest in—if for no other reason than to learn how we can improve the situation,  will be under threat.

Of course, this ignores that when the federal government awards funding, it’s not any of the elected politicians who actually decide which projects get awarded, but teams of academics who evaluate the various proposals that come to them.  Unfortunately, the UCP does not understand the idea of a government that actually lets things run at arms length.  They’ve demonstrated this time and time again, pushing government appointees on to the Boards of any and all public or even semi-public institutions that they can think of.  So of course, for them, any group that directs funding must be doing so directly on orders from the Prime Minister.

Beyond how this might affect environmental research, the reputation of all Alberta post-secondary institutions, and the ability of those institutions to be able to attract top researchers who know that there’ll be yet another level of red-tape they need to get through to be able to fund their activities, this is still more dangerous than it would first seem.  With this bill, the government of Alberta is now actively and officially politicizing research. This is something that will undoubtedly fuel the fevered dreams of the conspiracy theorists.  Now they have what they’ll consider undeniable proof that the science we receive is politically driven, even the government itself says so.

Supposedly, consultation with stakeholders of the Act began at the start of June.  So far as I can tell, though, there is no public consultation planned.  Which means that all we can do, here in a Alberta, is write our MLAs, and hope that Albertans opinions on this are considered more important than they have been on the idea of an Alberta Pension Plan.

In other news, with the Stampede now in full swing, there’s already been three animal deaths, with two horses on separate days each suffering what Stampede officials have called a “highly unusual and unfortunate incident.”  The unfortuante incident, it seems, is that nobody has informed the Stampede officials of the meaning of the word “unusual”.   If any of their staff read this thanks to your google alerts, please inform your bosses that if something happens two times on consecutive days, it’s no longer an unusual incident.  If that something is also something that has happened almost every single year you run the Stampede, it’s not an unusual incident.

Let’s at least be honest about what it is, “the cost of entertainment,”  or perhaps more accurately, “the price for the Stampede Board to make their money.”

Perhaps it’s a good thing that the rest of the Voice writers aren’t as cynical as I am, because you probably need a palate cleanser after that.   Enjoy the read!